Geared up for School

We are trying to have as much fun as we can with our rainy, gray days until school sets in and our days will be filled with forced fun. :-) We got spoiled with nice hot sunshine on vacation and thought we were ready for some rain. Oh we got our rain and apparently are never content, as we are wishing for a little sunshiny vacation again. Needless to say, we've been playing lots of board games and doing lots of cheap crafts.

Tadd leaves tomorrow for California and we are trying to get back into some routine so getting up for school is not such a shock. Kenya and Elijah have been real troopers at getting back into chores and helping mom and dad around the house, now that we are off our extended vacation. Most of their time has been spent playing with and caring for the new puppy that Daddy just couldn't resist bringing home. He's hoping that who ever house sits for us for 6 months is O.K. with taking care of a pure bread Border Collie who is sweet as pie. There was a sign down the road for boarder collies $350.00 Then one day the $350.00 turned to free, which happens to be in our price range. I guess the pups were 6 months old and he just wanted to get rid of them and start fresh with the next litter. The kids were obviously ecstatic.

Tadd has been working a lot for friends and will probablly be working for one of them full time until we leave. Jennifer and Jarod have been doing lots of work getting our downstairs apartment ready in Haiti, most of that includes getting all of their stuff moved and constructed upstairs. We are working on getting all of the technical details worked out here in the states, so we can go forward with the move. Please continue to pray for the adoption as our papers that were lost are now "supposed" to be done by the end of August. We just sent off a package for Annecy's 8th birthday on September 1st. Time flies. Thanks for your continued prayers, it is the most effective and also the only tool we have in this neverending battle. God is so good to give us this tool, we just need to learn to pull it out of the tool box more often then we do. This adoption has been so good to teach Kenya and Elijah, and also Mommy and Daddy how we don't always know why God does what He does, but we do know He always does what is best for us and if we are continually praying and seeking Him, He will give us the peace to get through, until our prayers are answered.

Please Pray

We are back in full swing. Kenya and Elijah have been making a little extra cash by picking blackberries and selling them to mommy. Apparently blackberries have really gone up in price over the years. I guess that is the price you pay if you don't want to go pick them yourself. Unfortunatly, Elijah thinks picking them and then giving the profits to someone else, whether it comes with money or not is a cheap alternative to just stationing yourself at the bush and eating them until your sick.

Apparently the travels aren't over for my sweet husband.

Our previous pastor (Pastor Ken)

who I am sure is extatic that I used this picture, called and asked Tadd to help him out. Tadd had worked with Ken at our church until Ken moved to Costa Mesa, California and is now moving back to Washington to start a Calvary Chapel in Everett. Everett is about an hour south of us, by Seattle. Tadd will be helping him get the church in Everett started until we leave for Haiti in November. We are picking up his wonderful wife Lynn and their 3 kids from the airport next week and then at the end of the week Tadd will fly down to Cali and take a week to help Ken drive back up here. With a short pit stop in Jacksonville, OR of course as Ken is also a fan of Jon Courson, but I am sure not half as big as Tadd.

All of that said, we could really use some prayer for safety for Tadd and Ken as they drive back and also for protection and sanity for both of their wives and kids. If you could also really commit the church in Everett to prayer. The web address is www.calvaryeverett.com check it out and keep it in prayer.

Drained from Drifting

Well, we are finally home for awhile. We have visited and vacationed to our little hearts desire and we are now trying to cram our life into a box and head to Haiti. We are targeting the first of November as our departure date. We will be commiting to 6 months there and depending on how our adoption goes we will be back to show off our kids. Then we will seek the Lord and re-evaluate weither he takes us back to Haiti or in a different direction. We are just storing all of our thing now, so that we can use them when we come back to introduce Annecy and Isaiah to everyone and we will make a decision from there weither to continue to store or get rid of it all. We are so excited to go to Haiti and be with our kids, work with the Ebenhaaks and be a part of the amazing things God has going there. We will posting soon with more details and more direction. So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we had a long, but fun 3 week vacation to say goodbye to family and friends. We started out in Idaho with Charity's family reunion which I'm sure you have already ooggled at that on our previous post, but hears a little follow up

mia and aunt charity

The sista's (4 outta 7 that is)

Sanfords & Scheffers @ museum

Next on to Saint George for lots of very Hot family fun.

Kenya and Elijah riding the kiddie go karts, they are not amuzed as the power wheels they have goes much faster.

So daddy let them ride on his go cart, much more amuzing, Dad hit the Lady in front of Him and make her do a 360 on the track.





The nice thing is the heat really wears the kids out.


We celebrated Kenya's 7th birthday on July 29th. Daddy took her on a date while Elijah and Mom stayed home to suprise her with cake and decor. It apparently worked and we got a snap shot as she walked in the door. She got to take a big bite right out of the cake, and then Elijah felt justified in doing the same.

Then off to Indio California to hang out with the Wheelers before they go off to Brazil.

We were afraid with 6 kids between both families we wouldn't get enough adult time together. We figured that out pretty quick and were able to go out with out the kids a couple of times.


The first night we just put them in front of the TV and told them not to make to much noise.


Then we took them to the beach and burried them in the sand, until we got back from surfing.



We had lots of fun at the beach and all the kids and guys got to go to the Pendleton Marine base in Oceanside. Since Billy is a Marine they got some special treatment when playing with the tanks. Then back home for some sweet snuggle time.



It seems that was the pattern for the whole vacation was, lots of play, lots of fun, then complete exhaustion.



Finally, we said good bye to the Wheeler's and on to our last stop in Jacksonville, OR for some borderline stalking of Jon Courson (a very gifted pastor that we love to listen to online). The reason I say borderline stalking is because every vacation we take, we end up stopping by to attend a service there and the kids love the kids museum and the camping spot we stay at.
We took a slight detour into the Oregon Vortex and found out that Kenya and Elijah are closer in height depending on where they stand. After satifying our obsessions, we limped our way home with excitement and exhaustion. Poor Elijah who was regularly deprived of his much needed naps was totally spent.


Thanks for keeping up with us and most of all keeping us in your prayers. We will try to post a little more frequently, now that we are a little more stationary. Love you all and we'll talk to you soon.

Enjoying Each Other

Well, we had a great time with Charity's family in Lava hot springs, Here's some pic and a breif walk through what we did.

It was an 11 kid camp out every night in th living room at the conference center.

Statton, Kenya and Nick Statton, Mia, Maddie, Nick, Chandler, Kenya

Which made for some good snuggle time.

Ty and Elijah, Then Maddie and Kylee

The place we stayed was right next to a small river that you could rent tubes and float down, it looked pretty harmless, but Charity and Kenya got dumped half way down and could not stay above water for about a minute. The water slowed down and we were able to recover. Kenya however will never touch a tube or a small river again, charity has a sprained finger from trying to pry Kenya off her to get her back into the tube. Tadd and the other "adults" decided to go farther up river where there was rumor of a 10 ft water fall you can go over. After about 20 minutes Tadd came back with a bloody head and ear, Bob had a bloody back and head, and everyone else had many scrapes and bruises. Apparently no one told them you should not try to act 16 if your not. Everyone was bandaged and babied, then they went back up to try it one more time. Do we blame this on the upbringing or loss of brain cells over time.

The next day we hit Lava Hot Springs water park to see what other things on our bodies we could damage. Scott and Elle attemped the 32 foot diving platform and Tadd got a mid air shot.

All the sain people just swam in the pool and hit the waterslides.

Then on the last couple of days we stayed safe and Ben made a great treasure hunt for the kids which Sarah provided pirate tatoos for I'm not sure which was more fun, the hunt or the treasure itself. We followed the treasure hunt with some sushi made by Chris who was in Japan for 2 years and perfected Charity;s favorite dish, California rolls. Fireworks and a historical tour through the ancestors cemetary to end the whole sha bang. Bringing a close to a crazy, but fun family reunion.

R & R

Well, were of to a REAL vacation. I know most of you might think, YOU JUST GOT BACK! Well as much as we loved spending time with our kids and friends in Haiti. Haiti is the last place that feels like a family vacation. So we are off to our yearly family vacation. We are spending 3 days with Charity's family at a reunion in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, Then off for a week at our Trendwest timeshare in St. George, UT.

We will be able to say good-bye to her side before we leave to do missionary work and we will be able to use up our timeshare points that we may never be able to use again, as Haiti doesn't have a lot of timeshare vacation spots. Then we are spending some time at the trendwest in Indio, CA with our sweet chicken friends, The Wheelers, before they leave to Brazil to do mission work.

It's a fairly lengthy vacation, but we are trying to store up some R & R as the next couple of months will be pretty hectic. If nothing else it will make us really ready to come home. We should be back the second week in August or so. Then it's home to get rid of all of our worldly possesions and pack up to head to the mission field. We are so blessed to be able to take some time with family and friends before we go and God has blessed us with such wonderful people in both of these circles.

We talked on the phone to Annecy and Isaiah for the first time since we left Haiti, as the directors just got back from spending a month in the US and our much coveted phone conversations were not possible until today. It's almost harder to talk to them on the phone now as I know thier personalities and quirks so much better now, I can just picture their facial expressions and understand more of what they are feeling. All the sadness of being apart was lost as we talk about how excited we were to see them soon and they wouldn't have to live the orphanage life any more. After 7 and 9 years of living in orphanages, I'm sure it is almost unfathomable to them.

There was a story on Nightline a couple of weeks ago called, "How to buy a child in 10 hours" it's a story about child slavery in Haiti. It very interesting, but also heartbreaking. Here is a link to it. http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=5326508 This link takes you to the nightline story part 1, if you look below part 1 there is a link to part 2 and 3. It's pretty long, but if you have time it is definantly worth it.

We are so overwhelmed that God has provided the opportunity to be with our kids and minister to the people of Haiti. We are looking so forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do.

knowing He is God

The paperwork that was supposed to come out last week to be re-submitted to the passport office did not come out. So we are hoping this week. We did hear that the passport and visa processes are speeding up down there. There are 3 families that thier paperwork was not lost and they just got their kids home or are going to bring them home in the next couple of weeks. Selfishly it is kind of hard to hear about other families passing you up in the process and hearing their stories of thier kids first days home. But that is why knowing the Lord is so awesome. We know he is in control and know He is God. In trusting those 3 simple words, we know that He has a plan for us, He will give us the patience we need, He will bring our kids home in His perfect timing, and He is fully capable of doing way more, that I could ever think about doing for my kids. Lastly, that He is a better parent to them than we ever could be and I know he will be their All in All or thier I AM, whether they are near or far. So we will stand on His promises until we see Him moving these paper to the proper place. Thanks for listening to my rambling. It's probablly more for my benefit than anyone elses, but thanks for listening.

Laugh'in out loud

Hi All,

Sorry it's been so long since we have posted. We have been trying to post a video on our blog for a couple of days, but can't get it to post as it is too big and takes up too much room. So we posted it on you tube and put a link to it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUumBwgMFs8 If for some reason the link doesn't work you can just put "youtube.com" in your google search and then when youtube comes up search "Scheff kids Hard to Stand". We are excited to say our adoption paperwork that was lost is due to be done on Friday and we would appreciate prayer in that direction. The adoption offices in Haiti have been speeding up lately and so we are hoping as soon as our paperwork is re-submitted we will actually be making some movement. Also we need prayer as we seek the direction the Lord would have us go in the next couple of months we are trying to get some more definate plans figured out, so we know what action to take in the next couple of months. If you would be in prayer with us we would really appreciate it. Thank you again for all of your prayers, we are so blessed to see how many people pray for us and our kids daily. We are very encouraged to see the wonderful people God has put around us to encourage and support us. Thank you. We will let you know as soon as we hear if the paperwork comes out.